Keith Fahey given compassionate leave by Birmingham City

The midfielder has returned home, the Championship club confirmed on their Twitter feed.

Republic of Ireland international Keith Fahey has returned home to Dublin after being granted ‘indefinite compassionate leave’ by Birmingham City.

The 29-year-old withdrew from Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad for last night’s friendly with Greece due to flu and Blues manager Lee Clark this morning confirmed the former St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder has returned home.

Lee Clark has confirmed that Blues midfielder Keith Fahey has returned to Ireland for the time being on indefinite compassionate leave.

Fahey joined the Championship club in 2009 and has made 142 appearances for the Blues.

"Keith Fahey has gone back to Ireland for personal and family reasons," Clark told the club's official website.

"It’s compassionate leave. Whatever time it takes for that to get sorted we’ll leave in Keith’s hands. There’s no timescale. Football is my life and I take it very seriously but the one thing that is more important than football is my family, so I’m very understanding with my players if there’s a situation like this." he added.

Out of respect for the player's privacy, Clark wouldn't reveal the exact reason for Fahey's situation, other than to say: "I don’t want to go there because it’s far too private. But it’s not an issue and I’ve told Keith that however long it takes if it’s days, weeks or runs into a month or months it’s not a problem."